Grant to Urban League will provide 'green' training

Thursday

The Springfield Urban League has been awarded a $100,000 federal grant that will help 50 at-risk youths make the community more environmentally friendly.

The Springfield Urban League has been awarded a $100,000 federal grant that will help 50 at-risk youths make the community more environmentally friendly.

The money comes from $55 million in “green” jobs grants given nationwide as part of the economic stimulus package approved by Congress this year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Public Affairs. The grants support job-training and labor-market programs to help workers find jobs in green industries and related occupations.

The Springfield Urban League will use the money to create the Opportunity Green Works initiative, which will couple with the agency’s existing Youth Build program for high school dropouts between age 16 and 24, according to Cheri Hoots, director of workforce empowerment.

The Youth Build program helps those young people get their General Equivalency Diplomas and National Center for Construction Education and Research certification, she added.

“What this particular grant is for is to take 50 of our Youth Build participants and take them through a program called Your Role in a Green Environment,” Hoots said. “After they go through training, we’ll be working in conjunction with Southwind Park helping them with their development of the park.”

The youths will also be working with the Springfield Housing Authority in a program to improve weatherization of homes, she said.

“They will work with the residents in showing them how they can reduce energy demands, lower utility costs, basically reduce the overall impact on the environment,” Hoots said.

Youth Build has 75 participants now. Fifty will be chosen to work in the programs created by the federal grant.

“Those participants will be chosen by the three ‘A’s’,” Hoot said. “Attitude, attendance and achievement. They will earn it by attending classes every day, their achievement during class and their motivation, and of course their attitude plays a huge role.”

The grant also pays for five Urban League staff members to attend training and become certified in a “green” leadership program. They will help train the 50 youths.

The Urban League’s $100,000 grant also requires the organization to create a partnership with other local groups to form a countywide “green” coalition and a sizeable workshop during the grant term, Hoots said.

The grants are part of a $500 million stimulus initiative for green jobs training. The Department of Labor expects to release funding in three additional grant categories in the near future.

Rhys Saunders can be reached at 788-1521.

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